31.03.2008 // TVEL PR Directorate

The Scientific-Technical Coordinating Council of ITER has met at Chepetsk Mechanical Plant

The meeting has shown that TVEL Corporation is already completing the formation of a superconductor production at Chepetsk Mechanical Plant (CMP) in line with Rosatom’s schedule for commissioning of launching complexes.

During the visit the members of the council visited the workshops where TVEL was planning to open superconductor production. They pointed out the excellent organization and the high culture of labor at the plant. The director of the Nuclear Synthesis Institute of Kurchatov Institute RNC, academician Valentin Smirnov pointed out the big role of the plant and the importance of revival of superconductor production in Russia.

The chairman of the council, the director general of NIIEFA (Yefremov Institute) Oleg Filatov expressed conviction that CMP was able to become one of the leading superconductor producers in the world: “I am sure that Russia can get a big share in this market. And the capacities we are creating at CMP will help us do it.”

“The plant has much to do to enter the foreign market of superconducting strands and special alloys,” the vice president of TVEL Corporation Vladimir Rozhdenstvensky said.

Today, CMP is the only plant in Russia that has unique equipment for production of niobium-titanium and niobium-lead superconductors. These alloys are supposed to be used for fabrication of coils of toroidal and poloidal magnet fields of ITER. Combination of toroidal and poloidal magnet fields fosters retention and thermal insulation of plasma in thermonuclear reactor.

In 2007 CMP produced an experimental 0.5-ton lot of niobium-lead superconducting strands. This product fully complied with the ITER requirements. In May 2008 CMP launched relevant equipment with a capacity of 5 tons. This year the plant is planning to release a pilot consignment with the commercial production to be launched in 2009.

Superconducting materials are one of CMP’s priorities. Besides ITER, superconductors are widely applied in the production of medical tomographs, testing systems, super-temperature conductors, energy accumulators and current limiters. 

Russia’s participation in the construction of thermonuclear reactor (ITER) proves that our science and industry are highly competitive. The ITER project has given a strong impulse to the development of high technologies in Russia.

Chepetsk Mechanical Plant (Glazov, Udmurtia) is the only in Russia and one of the three biggest world producers of articles from zirconium and its alloys. It is the key link of the nuclear fuel production chain. The plant was established on Dec 19 1946 by a decree of the Council of Ministers of the USSR on the basis of the ammunition factory. In early Nov 1948 the plant produced the first lot of uranium products. The first phase of uranium production was launched in 1950. Today, the key partners of CMP are nuclear, chemical, mining and machine building companies. The plant closely cooperates with leading US, Chinese, EU, CIS companies. In 2007 the company’s sales totaled 7.8bln RUR.

TVEL Corporation is one of the world’s leading producers of nuclear fuel. 74 industrial (17% of the world market) and 30 research reactors in 14 countries work on the fuel produced by TVEL. The corporation comprises Mashinostoitelny Zavod (Elemash) (Elektrostal, Moscow region), Chepetsk Mechanical Plant (Glazov, Udmurtia), Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrate Plant (Novosibirsk), Chemical Mining Combine (Krasnoyarsk). Presently, TVEL is implementing a complex program “New Image by 2020” envisaging diversification of production and enlargement of the share of non-nuclear products.

The initiator of the International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor (ITER) project was the Soviet Union, which proposed building a modern reactor on the basis of the experience of four leading international programs on controlled thermonuclear synthesis. The United States, together with the European Union and Japan, suggested ways to implement such a project. Presently, the project involves Russia, the EU, China, the US, Japan, India and South Korea.

The estimated thermonuclear capacity of ITER is 500MW. The project is supposed to last for nine years. The technical basis of the reactor was ready in 2001. On June 28 2005 the parties to the project met in Moscow and decided to build the reactor in France (Nuclear Center in Cadarache). 

India, with its strong research and technological potential, joined the project in late 2005.

The ITER Agreement took force on Oct 24 2007.

The first meeting of the ITER Council (the governing body of ITER Organization) took place in Cadarache (France) on Nov 27–28 2007.

Russia was represented by a delegation of the Federal Agency for Nuclear Energy, led by ITER Council member, then deputy head of Rosatom Ivan Kamenskikh. The other members of ITER Council from the Russian Federation were the deputy head of the staff of the Government of the Russian Federation Igor Borovkov, the head of Rosnauka (Federal Science Agency) Sergey Mazurenko and the president of Kurchatov Institute Yevgeny Velikhov.

The Council elected EU representative Christopher Llewellyn Smith as their chairman and the president of Kurchatov Institute, laureate of Global Energy International Prize, academician Yevgeny Velikhov as vice chairman.

Thermonuclear reactor uses the energy produced by synthesis of hydrogen isotope nuclei. Isotope burning produces no radioactive waste. The reaction takes place in plasma under a temperature of 150,000,000 C. One unit of thermonuclear fuel produces 10,000,000 times more energy than organic fuel and almost 100 times more than uranium nuclei.

The key advantages of thermonuclear reactor are as follows:

— you have inexhaustible reserves of fuel for the reactor – water.
— you can build the reactor wherever you like,
— the reactor is safe as it does not emit radiation.